Neuroscientist: This Is How To Defeat Stress! Sam Harris (401)

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Today’s guest really needs no introduction…but here it is just in case you've been under a rock or not on social media, like him. Meet Sam Harris. Neuroscientist, philosopher, New York Times best-selling author, host of Making Sense, creator of Waking Up, and one of the most thought-provoking intellectuals of our time. Known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett, he fearlessly navigates even the most difficult of topics.

He’s a true advocate of reason and an explorer of the human condition. His ideas transcend boundaries, challenge our perceptions, and invite us to think deeply about the world around us. In our thought-provoking conversation, we wrestle with topics ranging from the existence of free will to psychedelic drugs, meditation, and religion.

Join us for an exploration of reason, morality, and consciousness like no other!

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Key Takeaways:

00:00:00 Intro
00:01:55 Judging a book by its cover
00:05:14 Woke politics and recent developments in AI
00:17:19 Making your mind into a friend
00:22:28 Meditation and the nature of self
00:40:00 The analogy of the optic blind spot to explain the concept of the absence of a self. He describes how, through a simple experiment, one can confirm the existence of the optic blind spot by moving a dot on a piece of paper in and out of sight. Harris draws a parallel between this experience and the search for the self, suggesting that both require a deliberate and precise way of looking. He emphasizes that the sense of self is the anchor for most psychological suffering and that letting go of this sense of self leads to profound relief. Harris also mentions the importance of meditation in gaining perspective on the inner dialogue that often causes suffering. Additionally, we touch on the heightened sensitivity to grayscale intensity in the region of the optic blind spot, intriguing as an astronomer.
00:44:29 Slipping into psychopathy
01:10:29 Who Sam relies on for external advice
01:17:14 On Trump’s narcissism
01:33:56 Musk’s ambition to colonize Mars
01:40:00 Sam Harris shifts the conversation from religion to space exploration and the human obsession with leaving a legacy. He expresses his skepticism about the coherence of the idea of colonizing Mars as a backup plan for humanity, given our evolutionary success on Earth and the uncertainty of our ability to build a perfect city on the red planet. Harris also shares his perspective on human happiness and being a good person, emphasizing the importance of turning one's attention away from oneself and focusing on helping others. He criticizes the narcissistic nature of the Mars fantasy and the desire for a grand legacy, comparing it to vanity and other negative emotions. Harris also questions Elon Musk's belief in Stoicism, suggesting that Musk's Mars mission might not align with the stoic precept of accepting the inevitability of death.
01:50:49 Does Sam miss academia?
01:55:00 Research on the brain's response to beliefs, focusing on the distinction between belief, disbelief, uncertainty and disgust. Harris emphasizes that higher cognitive functions, including belief and judgment, are built on lower structures and processes that evolved for other purposes. He shares his personal preference for thinking, writing, and speaking about the mind rather than conducting neuroimaging experiments himself. Harris also expresses his dream of using advanced neuroimaging technology to verify the truthfulness of podcast guests' statements.
02:00:27 Free will, consciousness, and scientific experimentation
02:44:08 Can AI have free will?
02:46:14 Should we teach kids meditation or religion?
02:55:23 Barbaric beliefs in different religions
03:10:18 Outro
Additional resources:

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💻 Website: https://www.samharris.org/

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Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

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